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An ASL Dictionary

Signing Savvy is a sign language dictionary containing several thousand high resolution videos of American Sign Language (ASL) signs, fingerspelled words, and other common signs used within the United States and Canada.

And Much More!

Signing Savvy is an ideal resource to use while you learn sign language. It includes the ability to view large sign videos, build your own word lists and share them with others, create virtual flash cards and quizzes, print signs, build sign phrases, ...and more

Comments

Thanks for sharing this

I didn't watch DWTS, but was happy to see the performance here. I agree 100% that the signing enhanced the emotional impact of the performance/song.

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Ditto

KDizneSavvy GuestWednesday, December 1, 2010

I didn't watch this episode of DWTS either but I know that using ASL while singing is very powerful...I use ASL when I sing worship songs at church and it helps me focus more on the words I am singing

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I watched

Savvy User MikeSavvy GuestWednesday, December 1, 2010

My girlfriend watched it and I was surprised her routing included SOME signing. It's was really cool to see since I am currently learning ASL in college.

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Absolutely

Savy User BrandonSavvy GuestThursday, December 2, 2010

I perform worship songs in ASL at our church and it without question enhances the song to deaf and hearing alike. I've had hearing people tell me how moving it is, so my answer is yes it does.

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TERRIBLE!!!

Savvy User BrandonSavvy GuestFriday, December 3, 2010

I thought this was awful and jerky, what a poor representation of ASL to music, there was no emotion or feeling to it at all it looked horribly choreographed and robotic...and Christina sounded terrible too, I wish I was Deaf whenever she opens her mouth to sing!!!

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decent

Savvy User MarySavvy GuestSunday, December 5, 2010

I'm hungry for anything ASl, but I thought it would be faster and more powerful signing. Not the best signing to music video but still cool they included ASL as part of the song on DWTS.

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Cool ASL TV Show

Savvy User brianSavvy GuestTuesday, December 14, 2010

I found this on youtube. The girls are hot. I think this is such a cool idea to have an ASL sitcom. Why isn't there shows like this on TV? Do the networks not care about the ASL world! We need to start a campaign to get shows like this on the air. PS. I love the campy "What are stocks?" So funny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etCZ4BWYyMM

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Refreshing

Savvy User PamSavvy GuestMonday, December 20, 2010

It's refreshing to see ASL performed by a group of out-on-the-stage dancers, rather than just an interpreter in black,hiding at the side of a concert (as I saw at a choral concert last week).

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More ASL

GlenSavvy GuestMonday, January 10, 2011

I thought there could have been less dancing and more signing. The beginning was good when it was only the one woman signing. When the dancing started it went downhill.

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Definitely

Savvy User KristiSavvy GuestMonday, February 28, 2011

I believe signing does enhance music in a powerful way, and it's unfortunate that the DWTS performance didn't take better advantage of the opportunity. I do think it’s great that they tried though. I hope more artists will see the beauty in signing and help bring a greater awareness of, and appreciation for ASL. Great example is Sia’s video “Soon We’ll be Found”

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I am often asked "I can't find the sign for....." And it will be words like FINALIZATION or SUMMARIZATION. My answer is often...."It is there." You may not get a result when you search for FINALIZATION, but that does not mean you are out of luck.

Unlike the spelling in the English language where one spelling is equal to one word, sign language is different. There are many signs that can mean more than one word. We have tried to connect any of the signs on our site with the English words they can represent, but this is not always possible or practical (as there are hundreds of thousands of potential word variations).

If you are having trouble finding the way to sign a certain word, think about what the true basic meaning of the word is, then, like using a thesaurus, look up words that could be interchanged with the word you are looking for without drastically changing the meaning.

Examples

An example: FINALIZATION - Think of the meaning you are looking for....How are you using the word? Is it that you want to FINISH? Or would the word LAST work better for you? Be sure to use the word that will be the most conceptually correct in the context that you are using the word.

A second example: SUMMARIZATION - We do have the word SUMMARIZE so maybe that will work for you. If not that sign, what about to SHORTEN, or to make SMALLER. I have seen both of those signs also used for SUMMARIZATION.

Conclusion

The biggest misconception is that there is one sign for one word and when translating from English to ASL, you must do a direct and exact translation. This is not the case. I think it is very interesting to watch five different interpreters signing the same exact story. I can pretty much guarantee that there will be variations. That is fine as long as the general concepts of the story are all there and clear to the client.

In summary, my advice when signing (and using the Signing Savvy site) is to think like a thesaurus and focus on the core concept or meaning of what is being signed and not get hung up on the exact English words you are translating.

Facial expression plays a very important part in the meaning of a sign. The same exact hand-shape and movement can totally change meaning because of the facial expression that is used to accompany it.

One example of this is the word MUCH. The degree of how much can totally be determined by the facial expression alone while the sign stays the same.

Other examples would be the words INTERESTING and FUNNY. Both of these words can be changed to different varying degrees all by the changes in facial expression.

One question that some users have asked then is why we don't show a great deal of facial expression in most of the videos on the site. This is a legitimate question. With the video on the site, we have focused more on the formulation of the sign (the hand-shape and movement). We understand that in your day-to-day signing, there would be more facial expression used depending on the emphasis in the context of the sentence.

Not only the hands, but also the face, the eyes, and the whole body work together to communicate in sign language. Because of this, we want to inform people who are using sign language that the wearing of sun glasses, excessive jewelry or facial hair that is long (like handlebar mustaches and long beards), can be distracting to the person you are signing with. If you ever watch an interpreter while working, they will be wearing solid dark colored clothing (as opposed to patterns) with very little jewelry and no sunglasses! This all helps in communicating clearly to the Deaf client through both signs and facial expressions.

One question many new signers ask me is: "What is the difference between ASL signs and English signs?" and "What does it mean to have an initialized sign?" These are two really good questions. It is important to understand the difference, particularly when signing to a member of the Deaf community.

Some background information

You may have noticed that sometimes people are referred as deaf (little d) and other times as Deaf (big D). This is done for a specific purpose. People that are deaf have partial or complete hearing loss. Deaf (big D) people are not just deaf by way of auditory definition, but culturally as well. They are usually born deaf. They don't normally use their voice when they sign. Many of them may also choose not to use hearing aides, cochlear implants or any other sound enhancing devices, even if they may get hearing benefit from them. They instead choose to use sign language as their primary mode of communication. Through sign they utilize interpreters in order to communicate with the hearing world.

Most deaf people; whether big D or little d, do NOT like to be referred to as Hearing Impaired. Instead they want to be identified as Deaf or Hard of Hearing, depending on their degree of hearing loss.

I give you this brief history just to give you some background before answering the ASL verses English question. This topic can become very involved and very political and we at Signing Savvy are not wanting to lose our focus of being a sign language resource for all, so we choose normally not to get too involved in these kinds of debates.

ASL signs vs. English signs

ASL (American Sign Language) is a complete, unique language developed by deaf people, for deaf people and is used in its purest form by people who are Deaf. Being its own language, it not only has its own vocabulary, but also its own grammar that differs from English.

Signed Exact English is a system to communicate in English through signs and fingerspelling. Signed Exact English, in most cases, uses English grammar (that is, you are signing English). The vocabulary is a combination of ASL signs, modified ASL signs, or unique English signs.

The reason English signs often vary from ASL is to add clarity to the sign so that the exact English word meant for the conversation is understood. One example would be the sign for CAR. In ASL, the sign for CAR is two A hands gesturing like they are holding onto and moving a steering wheel. In ASL, this sign is used for any automobile you control with a steering wheel, including a car, truck, bus, van, etc. The English sign for CAR is two C hands, one on top of the other, moving away from each other. If you wanted to specify what type of car, the hand shape is modified to include the initial of the type of vehicle (c for car, v for van, b for bus, j for jeep, etc.).

This is where the term "initialized sign" comes from. You clarify the meaning by initializing the sign with first letter of the intended English word. Therefore, using the English version allows one to specify exactly what is communicated in English. In ASL, you would just use the ASL sign for car and if it was important to clarify the type of vehicle, you would follow the sign with a fingerspelling of the vehicle type (JEEP, for example). This is just one example. There are many other examples.

Just as many ASL signs are used in Signed Exact English, members of the big D Deaf camp have accepted some English signs. However, some are still not accepted, and if you use them in your everyday signing, could be frowned upon by the Deaf. It is best to watch and ask if you are in doubt.

What type of signs does Signing Savvy include?

Since Signing Savvy is first and foremost a dictionary, we have decided to include the most common variations (both ASL and English) on the site so that you see that they do exist. Since ASL is the preferred language of the Deaf community, the ASL sign is almost always listed as the first version unless the word does not have an ASL sign for it. To determine if the sign is ASL or English, look below the video to see the sign type (available on most signs). If you are a registered guest or full member, the sign description tells you if it is an initialized sign. Remember that most of the time if the sign is an initialized sign, then it falls under that English category.

As the school year approaches, we want to let you know of a few things we have recently done on Signing Savvy particularly for teachers and students.

Many sign language teachers and professors are using Signing Savvy to create word lists (aka, vocabulary lists) of their lesson plans and then sharing them with their students. This allows the students to use Signing Savvy's online flash cards and quizzing features to quickly reinforce what they learned in the classroom from home or wherever they have access to the Internet.

"Bookmarking" Word Lists

As a result, we now have hundreds of shared word lists. We have had the ability to search shared word lists, but even this becomes tedious if you always want to return to the same shared word lists. We've added functionality so now you can bookmark word lists that you want to return to often. Just view a word list and click the ADD BOOKMARK button. The list of your bookmarked word lists will show up on the Shared Word Lists page.

"Friending" Shared Word List Authors

If you want to see all the shared word lists created by someone, you can friend them. For example, a student might friend their teacher or a study partner. Then whenever the teacher or study partner creates a new shared word list, the word list will show up in the student's friends list. To add a friend, first, click on the author's name of a word list to see all of their shared word lists, then click the ADD AS FRIEND button. Just like bookmarks, the list of your friends word lists will show up on the Shared Word Lists page.

Note: Of course, you are only allowed to see word lists that are public. Private word lists are not viewable by anyone other than the author.

4-Month Full Memberships

With this in mind, teachers are starting to integrate Signing Savvy into their courses. In some cases, they are replacing or complementing the course textbook with Signing Savvy memberships. We have received several requests from teachers for a membership duration that fits the duration of a semester and the pocketbooks of their students. We have done just that! We now offer a semester long (4 months or 16 week) full membership option for $24.95. That is much cheaper than most textbooks.

Recommendations

We have also just started a "recommendation program." Teachers (or anyone else) can set up an account on Signing Savvy and recommend Signing Savvy to their students (or whomever) by providing a special link. When the link is followed to Signing Savvy and the individual becomes a full member, they are automatically connected (see friending above) to the teacher's account so that they can see their shared wordlists. In turn, the teacher is rewarded with additional free full membership time to Signing Savvy. Recommendations are easy to give and are fully explained in the FAQ section of our website.

Institutional Purchases

This one is not new, but many are not aware of it. If you are part of an institution, such as a school, college, government agency, non-profit, or corporation and would like to offer memberships to your students, members, or employees, Signing Savvy has an excellent way to do just that, called Bulk Membership Purchasing.

With Bulk Membership Purchasing your institution can purchase multiple Signing Savvy memberships at a discounted price, then assign and manage those memberships. For Bulk Membership purchases, we also accept purchase orders. If you are interested, learn more on the create proposal page!

Have a great rest of the summer!

At Signing Savvy, we've had a pretty productive summer! We're happy we've been able to rollout several new full member features (described above), a new design, and have spent time in the recording studio so we could add many more signs to the dictionary. We hope you enjoy the new features!

Comments

Kudos

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NICE!!!

SigningSavvy User AllieSavvy GuestMonday, August 16, 2010

I really like the new lay out, features and design... thank-you!

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TRUSTFULLY MEMBERSHIP

Savvy User EdithSavvy GuestSunday, October 3, 2010

I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT KIND OF INSTITUTE IT IS THIS, BECAUSE I'M VERY REALLY INTERSTED IN BEING A MEMBER OF THIS, BUT AT THOSE DAYS NO ONE IS 100% CONFIDENT. ALSO I HAVE EXPIRIENCE LOSING CONFIDENCE THROUGH INTERNET, BUT I WANT TO BE A MENBER OF THIS. THANKS!

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